Biking and bouldering between the showers!

The weather Gods weren't so kind to us this weekend and with a forecast of showers we stayed local, biking around Pratdip and Santa Marina. It was intended to be a flattish, short ride, but Ali's magical mapping skills showed it was actually 50km with over 1,000m ascent! http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1193274

Still, it was nice to explore some new tracks around us and the highlight for me was the ridge above Pratdip, with stunning views to the coast and mountains - even if the horizon was tainted with nasty dark clouds! Thankfully we managed to avoid getting wet, although Sunday was a different story! We spent a few hours at Mont Roig before running away in a heavy shower. A couple of fairly dull photos from biking below, and a video of Ali's bouldering project at Mont Roig.

Coming down the ridge to Pratdip, a quaint little village with a mini castle! 

Normally I despise fly tipping, but a little sit was very welcome at this point! 

The circus comes to town!

Reus holds an annual circus festival, which sees acts from all over the world perform the streets and squares around the town. It's a really varied mix, from trapeze artists, jugglers to high wires, pole dancing, musicians and dancers, and best of all... it's free! Not a bad way to spend a couple of evenings after work.

Here's a video of some pretty amazing acrobats from the festival:

A scorcher!

A heatwave has arrived here, which means only one thing... time to dust off the BBQ! We chose a secluded spot a few minutes up from the house, giving us sea views without the crowds and sand from the beach. A very pleasant afternoon :-)

But Sunday we were keen to burn off the burgers so we headed up towards Farena to tick off a "must do" ride that we've wanted to do for ages. There's a long ridge between Prades and the Cogullons climbing area which we've walked sections of but always thought it would be cool to traverse the whole thing on bikes. So today was the day! It didn't disappoint, with spectacular views and mixture of terrain. Not the longest or steepest of rides, but in temperatures of 30 degrees plus it felt pretty hard! Forested sections or long downhills were particularly enjoyable today! http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1172651 

A BBQ with a view

Ali enjoying his appetizer - cheese and pineapple baby! 

Dessert!  The result of a morning's baking... Pear and chocolate tart. Pretty much your 5 a day in there.

Arriving in Farena, a cute little village on the way to Prades. 

Slogging up to Prades in full midday sun... the kind of heat that makes it hard to breathe! 

A pretty elaborate signpost (sponsored by Reus Deportiu Football Club?!) 

Santa Ana

It's beginning to feel like summer here now so we decided to head north for the weekend, to a new area for us called Santa Ana.

To be honest we went with fairly low expectations. It's one of the closest climbing areas to the large city of Lleida and so we were expecting it to be over-run with climbers, children and dogs. We also knew it was a series of cliffs by a working hydroelectric dam, so weren't sure how industrial it would feel...

Well, we were utterly wrong on both counts! It turned out to be a really atmospheric spot and there were only a handful of climbers there.

We climbed at three of the sectors, and it was very pleasant in the sun. Neither of us are at our best climbing-wise at the moment so Ali just enjoyed cruising some easier routes and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to haul myself up after him!

The Santa Ana Dam, with climbing sectors on both sides of the river

A little rock tunnel - home to thousands of birds and bats!

Our riverside camping spot. Hoping that the dam was solid! 

An evening's exploration at the dam - this ledge is actually pretty wide 

Beautiful red poppies everywhere! 

Looking down to the river from sector "exploradors", a 25min steep slog up from the river

What a nice car... and a narrow crossing to get back to it!

Trying not to fall in!

I made it! 

Ali's arty shot of the day... some German dude climbing something hard in the cave above the car! 

Medieval Bouldering

Today we had a good morning's bouldering at La Riba - amazed at the quality of the area which has been recently cleared and developed. I'm not the world's keenest boulderer really but there was a good range of boulders to play on and just a really nice place to be, in the forests along the river - one problem was even by a waterfall!

We then went to the annual Medieval Festival at Montblanc, a town which prides itself on its medieval history and likes to go back in time once a year with street markets, parties and displays. This was our second visit but it was still an interesting afternoon, some great people watching in the street markets!

a giant mat enters the main La Riba bouldering area

Riverside beach bouldering on incredible pocketed rock - it's like an outdoor climbing wall

Medieval giant bread - almost big enough to have a boulder problem!

Medieval horses and knights by the city walls. The one on the far right was Ali's steed of choice 

Medieval stalls in front of the medieval church

Medieval crazy paving

Medieval blacksmith and photographer 

A record breaker!

A record breaker today, both in terms of length, time and height gain - a jolly good day out by all accounts! We did a large loop from our flat in Montbrio, up to Colldejou, all the way along the edge with the wind turbines and back up to the same church as last weekend as Ali was itching to ride the 10km descent down from the Col d'Alforja again! 60km (including some carrying along some overgrown rocky sections) and over 2000m height gain. We're going to have massive ham thighs at this rate! http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1104714  A few photos below, though the camera didn't come out after lunch as it clouded over a bit and I was either "in the zone" struggling uphill or "whizzing" (tentatively) downhill...

Starting out across the fields around Montbrio - the apple blossom beginning to peep out 

Along some fun narrow tracks up to Colldejou 

The very windy edge along from Colldejou. Montsant to one side, the Med to the other. Spectacular but  a bit blowy! 

Continuing along the edge...

Under a mini crag as we approached the Col de Teixeta. No climbing today though! 

Lunch on the edge overlooking Riudecanyes and home! I love being able to see where we've come from!

Beach pootling and gnarly singletrack...

Our first weekend back from the Easter break was slightly mixed weather-wise, so on Saturday we opted for a pootle around some of our local beaches in between the showers! Sunday was a much better day and we completed our longest ride to date - a 38km loop up to the Col d'Alforja from our house. It was nice to explore some of the more local tracks and see up close some of the churches and landmarks that we normally just drive past! Route here http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1084256 

Miami Beach.... in Catalunya!

Feeling like an idiot with an umbrella with blue sky in the background - but it was actually raining!

Relaxing at the Church ("Ermita Mare de Deu de Puigcerver") at 790m having slogged up from sea level!

The start of the looooong descent along stunning wide tracks to start and some pretty "gnarly" singletrack. We never get photos of this as I'm too preoccupied  with trying to stay upright! 

Cycling past the Church "Mare de Deu de la Riera" and the tempting smells from the BBQ area behind!